General Ligern

Wild Beast General Ligern (猛獣将軍ライガーン, Moujuu Shougun Raigaan^?), also referred to as General Rigarn or Wild Beast Battalion Commander Raigon (猛獣将軍ライガーン), is a fictional character, a supervillain and warrior from the anime and manga series Great Mazinger. He is commander of the Mammalian Battle Beasts, one of the Seven Armies of the Mikene Empire. He resembles a demonic centaur in the original series, with his true face on his chest. In the Mazinkaiser OVA he appears more reptilian, but overall remains the same, as his mane color is changed from green to red and his body armor is now colored black instead of gray.

According to his profile included in the Mazinkaiser VS the Great General of Darkness OVA, Ligern(name coming from Liger) is the most vile of the Seven Generals and is unpopular even among his fellow Generals. This is mostly due to his tendency to steal their thunder in attempts to make himself look good. It was apparently only the skill he has in whipping his troops into bloodthirsty frenzies that prevented the Great General of Darkness from killing him personally. According to his manga description, Ligern practices shameless battle tactics and is among the more fierce of the 7 generals. He also the ability to fire electromagnetic beams from his fangs.

History

Like the other members of the Mikene Empire, General Ligern survived beneath the surface of the earth in the form of a hideous Warrior Beast. Possibly thousands of years old, he and the other Generals plotted their eventual return to the surface world they once ruled under the supreme command of the mighty Great General of Darkness.

Their chance came when an ambitious megalomaniac named Dr. Hell usurped their technology and created his Mechanical Beasts in order to conquer the world. At first content to let the upstart human do the dirty work for them (and very likely planning to overthrow him once he succeeded), the Generals quickly realized that the surface world was not completely helpless when Mazinger Z proved capable of repelling attack after attack. When Dr. Hell was finally vanquished by Mazinger, the Great General finally ordered a full scale attack.

Ligern's Mammalian Battle Beasts were the secondary mobile land unit (Julicaear's superhuman army being the primary unit) of the Mikene Empire's Seven Armies and were among the first of the Mikene forces to battle Mazinger Z. After Mazinger's defeat, the unexpected appearance of the even more powerful Great Mazinger put a stop to the Mikene Empire's plans.

General Ligern is killed in the final episode of Great Mazinger. Together with General Angoras, he attempts to prevent a revived and strengthened Mazinger Z from pursuing their flagship Demonika. After Angoras is destroyed by Venus A, Ligern turns tail to flee, but is shot from behind by Mazinger Z's Koshiryoku Beam attack and is killed.

Other appearances

General Ligern also reappears in the Mazinkaiser OVA Deathmatch! Mazinkaiser VS the Great General of Darkness and is the only one of the Seven Generals to be killed by human hands (rather than at the hands of a mecha like Great Mazinger or Mazinkaiser).

He leads his Mammalian Battle Beasts (consisting of Mommothos, Doleman and Grabaru) to a remote base in Siberia, where Archduke Gorgon, the Great General's personal assassin, has tracked the pilot of Mazinkaiser Kouji Kabuto. Despite knowing the Great General has ordered Gorgon to slay the youth before he could activate the powerful robot, Ligern attempts to steal the Mikene officer's thunder by attacking the base himself.

This eagerness proves to be his downfall, as Professor Morimori (one of the professors accompanying Kouji and Sayaka Yumi) launches a suicidal missile attack that kills him and completely obliterates the Mammalian Battle Beast Army. Ligern himself is killed when a missile ripped his body (and face) in half before detonating.

Gorgon, on the other hand, survives and later attacks Kouji again in Japan.